Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Trying to Talk with a Man," penned by Adrienne Rich in 1971, exists at the nexus of personal relationships and political undertones, a balance Rich consistently strives for in her poetry. The poem elucidates the difficulty in communication between genders, made more pressing and complex against a backdrop of nuclear testing in the desert. Rich uses this setting to accentuate both emotional and physical desolation, amplifying the distance between the speaker and her male companion while alluding to broader concerns of power dynamics and existential threats.

The poem commences with the candid admission, "Out in this desert we are testing bombs, / that's why we came here." Instantly, the reader is introduced to a harsh, unyielding environment that is symbolic of the relationship between the two individuals and the political context of the time. The mention of bomb testing echoes the prevalent tension of the Cold War era, amplifying the metaphorical "underground river" that the speaker feels-a river of unsaid words, unaddressed feelings, "forcing its way between deformed cliffs." This is an "acute angle of understanding," an enlightenment unwelcome in its clarity and its capacity to disrupt the status quo.

The speaker then recounts what has been sacrificed for their current barren state: "whole LP collections, films we starred in, playing in the neighborhoods, bakery windows full of dry, chocolate-filled Jewish cookies, the language of love-letters, of suicide notes." These are symbols of past lives, pieces of culture and tokens of emotional articulation that have been left behind. They are also evocative of the social and emotional costs of political or ideological commitments that necessitate such sacrifices.

The couple is in the desert to "change the face of" it, yet they are "up against" a silence that is both geographical and interpersonal. The silence "came with us and is familiar," indicating an emotional void preexisting their journey to the desert. It is a silence laden with years of unspoken sentiments and misunderstandings, and it follows them into this austere landscape where they are further "up against it."

Towards the end, the speaker confides, "Out here I feel more helpless / with you than without you," an ironic reversal of typical romantic ideals. Despite speaking of emergency equipment and procedures, the man looks at her "like an emergency," implicating her as the crisis at hand. Yet, the genuine crisis is their mutual inability to communicate-the real "danger," which, the speaker observes, is not external but exists between them. The "dry heat" that feels like power and the "EXIT" reflected in the man's eyes communicate a grim prognosis for their relationship, and by extension, for human interaction in a fraught socio-political context.

Rich's poem is a vivid illustration of how deeply personal experiences are entwined with larger social and political phenomena. While the desert testing ground serves as the immediate landscape, the true exploration is of the spaces between people-spaces filled with misunderstandings, sacrifices, and imbalances of power. And it is within these gaps that the most devastating detonations can occur, leaving nothing but "condemned scenery" in their wake.

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